Hull lieutenant says slain police officer was 'a wonderful kid'

Sean Collier, 26, the police officer killed in a shootout Thursday night with the brothers suspected of being the Boston Marathon bombers, worked several summers as a seasonal police officer in Hull. “It’s tragedy,” Hull Police Lt. Dale Shea said. “He was a wonderful kid.”

The Patriot Ledger, Quincy, MA

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Posted Apr. 20, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Apr 20, 2013 at 8:02 PM

Posted Apr. 20, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Apr 20, 2013 at 8:02 PM

HULL

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The police officer killed in a shootout Thursday night with the brothers suspected of being the Boston Marathon bombers had worked several summer as a seasonal officer in Hull, according to a lieutenant who supervised him.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology police Officer Sean Collier, 26, of Somerville, was shot multiple times and died Thursday night after responding to a report of gunfire on the Cambridge campus.

He was found inside his police cruiser at about 10:30 p.m. and was pronounced dead at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Hull Police Lt. Dale Shea said Collier had worked several summers in the town as a seasonal police officer. Shea said Collier stood out among the department’s 20 or so seasonal officers as a hard worker and had wanted to become a full-time officer with a municipal police department.

“I know he would have succeeded,” said Shea, who oversees the department’s seasonal officer program and supervised Collier while he was working in Hull.

MIT police chief John DiFava called Collier “a dedicated officer who was extremely well liked by his colleagues and the MIT community,” according to a press release from the Middlesex District Attorney. “In a very short period of time, it was remarkable how engaged he was with students, particularly graduate students.”

The state attorney general’s office issued the following statement from Collier’s family at noon Friday: “We are heartbroken by the loss of our wonderful and caring son and brother, Sean Collier. Our only solace is that Sean died bravely doing what he committed his life to – serving and protecting others. We are thankful for the outpouring of support and condolences offered by so many people. We are grieving his loss and ask that the media respect our privacy at this time.”

Collier was a 2009 graduate of Salem State University.

Shea, who spent part of Friday responding to events in Watertown, said he first thought it was a mistake when authorities identified the slain soldier as Collier, who Shea said he consider a friend.

“It’s tragedy,” he said. “He was a wonderful kid.”

One of the bombing suspects, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was pronounced dead at about 1:35 a.m. Friday at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. His younger brother, Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, 19, was still at large as of Friday afternoon. Police said the pair also shot and critically injured Transit police Officer Richard Donahue Jr. 33.